HR Director - Automotive

Overview

You will lead HR strategy and operations in a highly automated, unionized automotive plant, partnering with the Plant Director to align people plans with business goals. You’ll drive workforce design, productivity, and change initiatives while managing industrial relations and bargaining with trade unions. Your leadership will shape talent development, safety governance, and a culture of accountability in a demanding production environment. This role offers impact across labor cost management, organizational transformation, and sustainable social outcomes within a structured manufacturing setting.

Responsabilità

Advise Plant Leadership on people strategies aligned with business objectives

Support workforce planning, organizational design, productivity initiatives, and change management

Drive efficiency, quality, and cost control in a highly automated production context

Lead interactions and collective bargaining with trade unions and works councils

Manage industrial relations risks and ensure business continuity

Ensure compliance with labor laws, collective agreements, and regulatory requirements

Oversee full lifecycle of workforce adjustments (collective dismissals, solidarity agreements, temporary layoff schemes, restructuring) and negotiate workforce reduction measures

Develop sustainable labor cost management strategies

Lead talent development, succession planning, and leadership capability building

Promote employee engagement and a culture of accountability and continuous improvement

Align workforce skills with evolving automation technologies

Oversee Health & Safety governance and promote a strong safety culture

Support sustainability initiatives with focus on social sustainability and workforce impact

Promote transparent internal communication during transformation

Lead, develop, and coordinate a multidisciplinary HR team and ensure service delivery to plant operations

Foster a high-performance HR culture

Requisiti fondamentali

Over 10 years of HR leadership experience in automotive manufacturing or similar industrial settings

Proven track record in highly unionized environments

Experience managing complex workforce restructuring processes

Strong understanding of manufacturing operations in high-automation contexts

Experience leading HR teams of comparable size and scope

Fluent professional English (mandatory); French strongly preferred

Strong negotiation and stakeholder management capabilities

Excellent knowledge of labor legislation and collective bargaining frameworks

High resilience and ability to operate under pressure

Strong execution mindset with strategic thinking

Credibility on the shop floor and ability to engage at all organizational levels

negotiation

stakeholder management

resilience

labor law expertise

collective bargaining frameworks

industrial relations management